There were mine arrays in the open space more than a mile outside the woods, and the lethality in the snow was huge, and it also caused a huge psychological shadow to the fierce German army, so that once it was killed, it immediately collapsed; Then the trees were blown up with explosives, the tanks were besieged so that they could not advance quickly, and they were destroyed with bazookas, so that the Germans completely lost the cover of armored vehicles and the attacking troops that were protected, which was destined to be a one-sided battle compared to the defensive forces; After entering the wooded area, they took advantage of the firepower of the Parkes bunker to support each other, and thought of crossfire, causing the most direct damage to the Germans. The whole battle began quickly, but ended even faster, and the German offensive collapsed under the attack of E Company.

"Is anyone hurt?" Someone was shouting loudly, it was Lip's voice, and he had always been like that, in between every battle, he always shouted like this, which is why many people kept respect for him. Care and responsibility for brothers. Then there was a flurry of greetings, and the brothers began to check each other for injuries and so on.

A German company had suffered heavy losses, and had lost a lot of armor, and if the Germans wanted to attack again, they would not have started immediately. Although they had much more troops than the American troops, their scattered use was also an important reason why they could not break through the American defense line in a short time.

"Parks bunker!" Wales winked at Parks, "To be honest, I was very optimistic about the bunker you designed before, but after this battle, I do understand its incomparable merits. Why are you able to come up with such a genius idea, also an American? Cool! ”

"Because I'm Parks! This one is called Parks Bunker! Parks smiled smugly at Wales. To be honest, he knew the benefits of this trench from previous sources and had not really experienced it. But today's trenches, which appeared decades earlier, did serve so much that they surprised Parks himself. The wisdom of the Chinese soldiers on the Laoshan front line is indeed outstanding, or the wisdom of the masses of the people is endless and powerful.

"The Germans will not rest on their laurels after this defeat, they have defeated the first battalion and part of the Panzer Division, so they probably think that we are a breakthrough here." Wales analysed the situation, "It seems that we still have a battle to await, and a major German attack will soon be written." ”

"If they come, we will beat them." Parks smiled and said to Wales, "Harry, let's go count our ammunition and casualties, and cheer up our brothers!" ”

The battle was a very neat and crisp defeat of the Germans, which obviously greatly boosted the morale of the brothers. Even if they knew that it should have been a tough battle before this, the Germans had Tiger and No. 4, and a company of German soldiers, all of whom were SS soldiers with an extreme desire to fight, and it was evident from the fact that they sacrificed themselves and crushed mines with their bodies, they were not so easily crushed. And the tactical literacy shown in the woods is also very superb.

But even such German troops, under their own blows, could only retreat in a hurry, leaving more than 50 corpses, and when they retreated, they even discarded their weapons, obviously when they retreated, they were very frightened, and they wanted to flee this place as soon as possible, this is a death trap, it is the scene of the massacre designed by the Americans.

When the German soldiers pressed the mines with their bodies, many of the brothers in Company E were stunned, believing that the German army would become their fierce rival and thus suffer heavy casualties. But in fact, the Germans quickly retreated, and suffered heavy casualties, while none of the brothers of Company E were wounded, even a little bit, in this attack.

It was a miracle, but it was a miracle that did a great job in boosting morale, and although there was a reason for shit luck in this, they did kill and wound the Germans without losing a single person, and drove them back. It came too easily. And it makes sense, and it will undoubtedly greatly strengthen the confidence of the brothers, especially the recruits.

Stensson looked very excited, and it was clear that it seemed to him that the fight against the Germans was so simple, and that it would also increase his capital in front of the veterans, and thus finally put himself on an equal footing with the veterans who seemed to be pretentious.

"One, two, three......" Stenssen carved a vertical line into the butt of his wooden-handled gun, and from this day onwards he was going to say that the number of each German soldier he had killed could be on the butt, and henceforth this would be his capital for talking to the veterans, or for him to show off to the new soldiers in the future. In this attack, he killed three Germans.

Pooh watched Stenson doing this, his fast-beating heart had not yet stabilized, and there was still a feeling of panic in his heart, which made him tired all over, and he sat weakly in the dirt pit. Soth's death stimulated him so much that he even thought that the battlefield was nothing more than the grave of the recruits, who did not have rich combat experience and would die before the veterans, and they were sent to the battlefield to die. But now, the Germans easily suffered a crushing defeat and withdrew from the battle.

"It's too easy!" He muttered. But this sound still made Sebines beside him laugh. Sabins had participated in trench warfare in the Netherlands, so he couldn't help but laugh.

"Am I saying something wrong? Sabins! Pooh muttered to him with some dissatisfaction, "Isn't it too easy for the Germans to suffer heavy casualties and we remain unharmed?" ”

Sebins nodded, then smiled at him, "It's too easy, but you haven't experienced Normandy, you haven't participated in Operation Market Garden, and you haven't faced the Germans in the trenches for more than two months." And in the first battle, the Germans were killed and wounded in large numbers, and they were driven back, so of course, you think it is easy. ”

When Pooh heard this, he felt that there was some truth, after all, this was just a battle, and the difficult times might be still to come. He nodded, and said no more, but it was an endorsement of Sabence's words.

Sabins nodded and said: "What I said is correct, you better listen, the Germans have suffered heavy losses, they will definitely intensify their attack, and they will be more cautious, and will even come up with many ways to deal with us, you have to be ready to fight at all times, instead of sitting in bunker as you are now, stand up, Pooh, look at the line ahead, we can concentrate on it!" ”

Pooh nodded again, and he stood up, lying on his stomach at the observation port, quietly watching the line of defense in front of him. The Germans did not move. They may be planning their next attack, or they may be gathering strength. It took only thirty or forty minutes for a company's attack to be routed from the beginning, and it had to pass a mile in between, and the time from the actual exchange of fire to the crushing was even shorter, less than ten minutes, and the casualties amounted to forty or fifty men. Even with the fighting spirit of the SS, they could not have planned another attack in a very short time.

"We can't make it!" Vikinko said to another SS corporal, Jerry Vickers, "They are so strong, there are bullets everywhere, I don't know where to hide!" Corporal Jerry Vickers, if you go again, you will be sent to death. "This battle completely crushed Vikinko's fighting spirit. Especially when he saw his brother desperately throwing himself on the mine, and when he saw his brother behind a big tree, his neck was already concentrated, and blood was flying, his will collapsed.

This is not a reciprocal battle at all, just like when I was near the Arnhem Bridge against the British troops who were crossing the river, ** naked slaughter, limbs and minced flesh in the air like a rain of rain. It's just that the situation seems to have reached one by one. Now it is his own people who are being slaughtered, and it is his own brothers. Watching them desperately struggle for their lives in the snow, watching their blood stain patches of snow red one after another, Vikinko was also desperate, and did not even want to step into the woods again.

"Are you scared?" Corporal Jerry Vickers looked at Vikinko, he and Vikinko were not in the same company. He did not take part in the last offensive, but he was a veteran, having fought in Normandy and the Market Garden, experienced brutal battles, suffered more pain and suffering than he had in the later battles of the Arnhem Bridge, and had also spent countless difficult days and nights in the trench warfare of the Netherlands.

"No, it's just--I just don't think there's any point, we can't break through the U.S. defenses." Vikinko was a little embarrassed, but he made it his way. "They are hiding in hidden foxholes, shooting at us, even if we hide behind trees, we can't block their view, they are everywhere, and their marksmanship is accurate, I think this must be an elite soldier of the American army, they are outnumbered, even if there is a tiger type, it can't change our fate!"

Looking at Vikinko's somewhat gloomy eyes, Jerry Vickers couldn't help but shake his head, to be honest, Vikinko still lacked combat experience, he was just a soldier who followed the troops to pursue and defeat the fleeing British army, and other than that, he had no experience. His sentiment was nothing more than the most common perception among many German recruits.

"Everything will be fine!" Jerry Vickers could only comfort him like this. To be honest, he saw the company retreat, and although he didn't know exactly how they fought, Vikinko's performance forced him to be a little more cautious.

The German officers were again beginning to assemble their men, they already had a regiment here, and they had to break through here. And from here as a breakthrough, so as to tear open the defense line of the American army in Bastogon, annihilate the American troops surrounded inside, so as to grasp the initiative of the entire battle situation in one fell swoop. In any case, when the Germans routed the 1st Battalion, they thought it was the best place to break through.

"Vikingo, hurry up, we're assembled!" Jerry Vickers took a few steps, then turned around and shouted at Vikingko, "We're going to slaughter the Americans, we're outnumbered, and we believe that the final victory is ours!" ”

"Is the final victory ours?" Vikingko muttered that the last time they attacked, the captain and company commander seemed to say the same, but the final result was that they lost more than fifty people.

The German companies were gathering nervously, and this time they used two battalions of troops, and one battalion was in reserve. The fire reconnaissance of the company began, and they learned that the American troops on the opposite side might have a battalion on the defensive, and that they were not as short of food and clothing as the legend said, and even had no bullets in their rifles. The speed of the firepower made them know that this battle must be very difficult.

Captain Winters' battalion headquarters was set up behind E Company, and if E Company's defensive line was breached, the entire battalion headquarters would be hit. He was sitting at the camp headquarters, looking at the snow in front of him, and his heart was a little uneasy. Although he knew that Parks was very capable of fighting, and although he knew that Company E had a strong fighting ability, it was clear that the German attack this time must be very fierce, and that their number would be even larger, even several times that of the brothers of Company E.

"How's Parks doing?" Winters watched a figure walk in from outside, and then looked at him, it was Nickerson, who had just come over from the headquarters of Company E and talked to Parks.

"Everything is fine!" Nickerson smiled, but very reluctantly, in the face of such an offensive, it was impossible for anyone to laugh, because there was a high probability of a regiment on the opposite side. The 2nd Battalion was unable to draw more defensive troops to support Company E. In order to maintain the offensive advantage of the defense line of E Company, the German army maintained the posture of taking the initiative to attack on all other fronts, so that the American army, which was already very short of manpower, could not spare troops to assist the breakthrough of E Company.

"I hope so!" Winters tightened his military coat. He shivered a little. Obviously, this was partly due to the weather, and partly due to the tensions before the war. Even in the face of a larger battle, he didn't feel a shiver, but today he did, cold—cold, so cold that he couldn't breathe.

"We still have reserves, don't we?" Nickerson nodded and said, "In case Parks can't stand it, we will let the reserve company go up, Colonel Zinke has already learned about the situation here, but he only said one sentence: Resist, I don't care what you think, but we don't have support, everything is on our own!" What are these words? ”

"Colonel Sink has always been like this!" Winters was a little dissatisfied, and he wanted to complain, but there was no one else here but Nickerson, and Compton was sent out to contact the other companies.

"God bless E-Company!" Nickerson drew a cross on his chest.

"God bless Parks!" Winters stood up and walked forward, he wanted to go to the defense line of Company E for himself, he wanted to personally cheer for the brothers of Company E.

The snow was still the same monotonous "creaking" and "creaking" sound as it was trampling under his feet. Even though the snow was deep, Captain Winters walked fast. He wanted to know first-hand.

"Lacey!" Winters looked at Parks in the bunker in front of him, walked over, and yelled at him, which caught Parks' attention, and when he turned around, he saw Captain Winters with anxiety on his face.

Parks took Winters into cover, he knew what Winters was coming from, and said with a smile: "I know what you mean, in fact, I was a little hesitant before the first firefight with the Germans, but now after a firefight, I think we should be able to handle it." ”

Winters took the telescope that Welsh handed over and looked ahead, he looked very carefully, and Nixon and Wales on the side began to talk. Wales told the previous German attack in great detail, and every detail was said, but it can be seen that he was very excited, after all, it was a thing to show off that he could beat the German army to the ground, and he was unharmed.

"You're doing a very good job, and if we still have mines, we should have some in the woods, and our only advantage is the effective mutual support and crossfire formed by the interweaving of bunkers!" Captain Winters put down his binoculars and said to Parks, "The German tanks have been destroyed, they will definitely have some scruples, and the woods are not suitable for the movement of tanks, I don't think they will use tanks, the only possibility is to bombard the woods and the open space in front of the woods with artillery fire, detonate our mines, and open the way forward!" ”

"Don't worry! Dick! At this time, Winters turned his head and saw Nickerson smiling at him, "The brothers of E-Company will be well taken care of." They have a very good company commander! Isn't it? ”

Winters looked at Nickerson and then at Parks, and smiled in realization, "Okay, very good!" He stood up, then patted Parks on the shoulder and said, "Only by keeping the bunker intact can we stop the German attack, it may be a little difficult, but as long as we hold on, the last to retreat must be the Germans!" ”

Parks nodded and smiled, "No problem, Dick, are you still going to stay here?" The Germans may be about to go on the offensive. If I really can't resist it, isn't there still you in the back? Don't worry, Dick! ”

Winters knew that Parks was telling the truth, and to be honest, if he personally commanded it, he might not be able to achieve the effect of Parks, and in terms of combat tactics, Parks was better than any officer of the 101st Airborne Division. And what is even more rare and what Winters admires the most is that Parks, like himself, has always been a pioneer, thus winning the respect and love of his brothers.

Captain Winters and Captain Nickerson decided to leave the place, knowing that he should stay at the battalion headquarters and not at the forefront of the company headquarters. He knew he might be a concern for Parks here.

"The Germans seem to be moving!" Suddenly, Wales, who was watching with a telescope from the sidelines, said to Parks, "They may be about to start!" As he spoke, he shouted to the front, "Everyone, pay attention, the Germans are about to attack!" ”

Before his words fell, he heard the sound of dense artillery shells whistling in the air, and they rushed towards E Company like a mountain of mountains, starting from the open space a kilometer away in front, the gap between the explosions was very small, and the density exceeded the density of the US army's running group at the beginning of Operation Market Garden.

It seems that the Germans are going to break through the line of defense of Company E with all their might!

(To be continued)